End-gate fastening.



No. 646,743. Patented Apr. 3, 1900. J. 0. LEFEVRE,

sun GATE FASTENING. (Appl'ietion filed July 24, 1899.) (No Model.) 5 2 Sheets-Shqot 2.

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. an I ATTORNEYS m: Noam: wmas co. marmumou WASH NGTON n c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES O. LEFEVRE, OF NEW PALTZ, NEXV YORK.

END-GATl-I FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 646,743, dated April 3, 1900.

Application filed July 24, 1899. Serial No. 724,977.: (No modelJ' To aZZ whom it may concern: Be it known that 1, JAMES O. LEFEVRE, of New Paltz, in the county of Ulster and State ofNew York,have invented a new and Improved End-Gate Fastening, of which the fo1-- lowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to an end-gate fasteningwhich serves to secure the end-gate by drawing the side-boards of the wagon together, thus-binding them against the edges of the endgate, the invention involving certain novel features of construction by which a most effective appliance is produce This specification is the. disclosure of several forms of my invention, while the claims define the actual scope thereof.

Reference is to be had'tothe accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

' Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention in use. Fig.2 isan' enlarged view of the clamping device. Fig; 3 isa similar view of the clamping device slightly modified. Fig.

4 is a view illustrating a third modification of an enlarged perspective view of one of the screw-eyes which theclamping-rods engage. Fig. 11 is a view of a slight modification of the construction shown in Fig. 10, and Fig. 12 is a sectional view showing one of the screweyes.

In Fig. 1 I have shown a wagon equipped with an upper end-gate 14 and a lower endgate 15. My invention'may be used in connection with such an arrangement or in connection with a single end-gate, as desired. If two end-gates are employed, the lower endgate is held between cleats 16, attached to the side-boards 17 of the wagon, and cleats '18, attached also to the side-boards, the cleats 18 being of a length equal only to the Width of the end-gate and the cleats 16 being of alength equal to the width of both the upper and lower terference with' the pin 29.

end-gates. The upper end-gate 14. is held between the cleats 16 and the cleats 19, which are located above the cleats 18 and are narrower than the cleats 18. The upper end-gate 14 carries at each end a cleat 20, and these cleats 20 serve to compensatefor the narrowness of the cleats 19. The object of this construction willfully appear hereinafter. Each end-gate carries two clamping-rods 21. The clamping-rods are each held in guides 22 and 23, attached to theend-gate. The guides 22 and 23, as shown best in Figs. 7 and 9, are formed of strap-iron with hooks 24 at their upper ends, which serve to engage overthe upper edges of the. end-gate, the main portions of the guides lying in front of the endgates and being secured thereto, as shown. The front portions of the guides 23 and 22'are provided with outwardly-bowed portions 25, 1

forming boxes in which the rods 21 are slidably received. Screwed or otherwise fastened vto limit the sliding movement of the clamp- As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the clampingrods 21 are'moved toward and from each other by means of a hand-lever 28, which is pivoted to one of the clamping-bars by means of a pin 29. This lever 28 is pivotally connected with links 30, which are pivoted to the other clamping-bar 21 by means of a pin 31, carried in said bar. The bar 21, to which the links 30 are pivoted, is trifurcated in the manner shown in Fig. 2, and the bar 21, in which the lever 28 is pivoted, is bifurcated, as shown. The links 30 are formed with bent portions 32 therein adjacent to the pivot 29 of the lever 28, so that the links may be thrown inward into alinement with the bars 21 without in= The lever 28 has at its free end an offset finger-piece 33, and the main portion of the lever is arranged to lie in between'the arms of the coacting bar'21 at the bifurcated portion thereof. 'When the lever 28 is in the position shown in Figs. 1

and 2, the clamping'bars 21 are drawn together into the clamped position, and when the lever 28 is thrown to the left in Figs. 1 and 2 the links 30 are moved in the same direction and the pressure on the bars 21 is relaxed.

Fig. 3 illustrates a slight modification in the form of the clamping devices for the bars 21,

in which arrangement the links 30 are joined together and the bar 21, to which said links are pivoted by means of a pin 31, is bifurcated instead of trifurcated. In other respects the clamping devices are the same as those previously described.

In Figs. 4and 5am additional modification is shown, in which a single link 30 is provided. This link is pivoted to one of the bars 21 by means of a pin 31 said bar being bifurcated, as in Fig. 3. The lever 28 of this form of the invention is bifurcated and the link 3O fits between the arms of the lever 2S at the bifurcation thereof. The lever 28 is fulcrumed on the pin 29, and the link 30 has a bowed portion 32 similar to the bowed portions 32 of the links 30 and acting in the same manner.

.If desired, the levers and links may be made to move in a vertical plane instead of in the horizontal plane shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Fig. 6 illustrates this arrangement of the said parts. Fig. 6 shows one of the clampingbars 21 and the hand-lever 28 thereof movable in a vertical plane. This lever may be provided with a ring 33 to take the place of the finger-piece 33 previously described.

Fig. 8 illustrates a modified construction of the clamping-bars and holders therefor, in which the clamping-bars 21 are constructed square or in otherangular form, and the boxes 25? and the holders therefor are of like form. I also provide a different means for limiting the movement of the clamping bar, such means consisting in a pin 27, which instead of sliding in a slot in the box 25 is adapted to engage with one end thereof. This pin may be adjustably secured in the clampingbar to regulate the movement thereof.

The ends of the clamping-bars 21 carry hooks 35, which engage in screw-eyes 36, secured to the side-boards 17 of the wagon, so that as the clamping-bars are drawn inward the side-boards are moved in the same direction and clamped against the end-gate. As shown in Fig. 1, the screw-eyes 36 of the lower end-gate 15 are located in recesses 37 formed in the cleats 18 and the eyebolts 36 of the upper end-gate 14 are located in recesses 38 formed in the cleats 19. The upper and lower eyebolts 36 are arranged out of vertical alinement, the lower eyebolts 36 being disposed inward from the vertical line of the upper eyebolts, to the end that the lower end-gate 15, carrying its clamping-rods 21, may be moved upward and disengaged from the wagon without disturbing the upper sideboards 17 of the wagon. By providing the cleats 19, which are narrower than the cleats 18, a passage is left in which the ends of the clamping-rods 21 of the lower end-gate 15 may move in its operation. When the endgate 14 is in place, the cleats 20 extend through this passage or space between the end-gate 14 and the cleats 19 and provide a secure construction.

Fig. 12 illustrates the preferred manner of constructing the eyebolts 36, and, as shown in this figure, the eyes proper are joined to threaded shanks 39, which screw into thimbles 40, having flanges 41 at their outer ends, such flanges serving to lie against the outer edges of the side-boards, the shanks 39 being locked in place by nuts 42, as shown. By means of this construction it will be very difficult for the eyebolts to be pulled out, since the broad flanges 41, hearing against the outer sides of the side-boards, will prevent this. Fig. 10 shows the arrangement of the eyebolts 36 with respect to the side-board 17 and cleat 18. The cleat 13 has a housing 43 seated in the cavity 37 thereof, and this housing receives the eye 36. In Fig. 12 the housing 43 is indicated, and here it will be seen that the thimble 4O bears against the housing in the manner shown, the side-board 17 being clamped between the flange 41 and the housing 43. The housing 43 has a strap-iron extension 44 running down along the inner side of the cleat 18 and secured thereto and having a threaded member 45, forming a bolt, adapted to project through the bottom of the wagon and to be secured thereto by a nut.

In Fig. 11 a modified form of this arrangement is shown, in which the cleat 18 is dispensed with and its place taken by an angle-' iron 46, which is fastened to the lower sideboard 17 and which has one member standing transversely to said side-board to be engaged by the lower end-gate 15, thus serving the functions of the cleat 18 previously described. The an'gle-iron 46 has a bolt 47 projecting downward therefrom in the same manner as the bolt 45. The screw-eye 36 passes through the upper portion of the angle-iron 46, as shown.

Various changes in the form, proportions, and minor details of my invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Hence I consider myself entitled to all such variations as may lie within the scope of my claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In an end-gate fastening,the combination of two fastening-rods mounted in alinement with each other, fixed bearings in which such rods are mounted to slide longitudinally, a link pivoted to the inner end of one rod and having its free portion bowed, and a lever fulcrumed in the inner end of the other rod and pivotally connected with the link, the said other rod being bifurcated to receive the lever when in locked position and the bowed portion of the link moving into such bifurcation and over the fulcrum of the lever.

2. In an end-gate fastening,the combination of two fastening-rods mounted in alinement and to slide longitudinally toward and from each other, the one rod being bifurcated and the second rod being trifurcated, two links pivoted in the trifurcated portions of the second rod and havingbowed free portions, and a lever fulcrumed in the bifurcated portions of the first rod and having the links arranged on opposite sides thereof and pivoted thereto, the lever lying in the bifurcated portion of said first rod when in closed posit-ion.

3. A wagon-body, having a housing seated in a cavity therein and opening at its inner JAMES O. LEFEVRE.

XVitnesses:

ALBERT A. LE ROY, ALBERT L. ETTINGE. 

